A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



company's system. The Great Central Company, 

 originally the Manchester and Sheffield Railway, has, 

 since its partial opening in 1 84 1, had a share of 

 London Road Station ; the Midland Company has a 

 goods station close by, named Ancoats, opened in 

 1870. The Great Northern has a goods station at 

 Alport, close by the Central Station, which was opened 

 in 1877 as the terminus of the railway of the 

 Cheshire Lines Committee of the three companies 

 last named ; from it lines run to Liverpool and to 

 Stockport. 



The Bridgewater Canal has a wharf at Castlefield 

 on the north bank of the Medlock. At the same 

 point begins the Rochdale Canal, which proceeds 

 east and north-east through the township. The Man- 

 chester, Ashton, and Stockport Canal begins near 

 London Road Station and goes through Ancoats. 



The Corporation Electric Tramways run through 

 most of the principal streets, and on the west side 

 are supplemented by the Salford tramways. 



The open spaces in Manchester proper are com- 

 paratively few and small, with the exception of 

 Queen's Park in Collyhurst. This was formerly 

 known as the Hendham Hall Estate,' and was 

 acquired by the Corporation in 1845. Adjoining is 

 a cemetery, opened in 1837. Near the Irwell is the 

 old St. Mary's Churchyard, called the Parsonage, and 

 there are recreation grounds at Newtown, Collyhurst, 

 Oldham Road, and Holt Town in Ancoats. 



Chetham's Hospital, originally the college of 

 Thomas La Warre, stands north of the cathedral 

 on the site of the old hall of the lords of Manchester, 

 at the north-west corner of the inclosure within 

 which the ancient town was contained, and at the 

 junction of the rivers Irk and Irwell. The situation 

 was originally a strongly defensive one, the plateau 

 upon which the buildings stood being upwards of 

 40 ft. above the ordinary levels of the rivers. Of the 

 baron's hall, the predecessor of the present building, 

 nothing is known, and attempts to prove that parts 

 of the existing structure are earlier than the founda- 

 tion of the college in 1422 have not been successful, 

 though it is quite possible that some of the old stone 

 and timber may have been used in the new 15th- 

 century building. The hospital as it now stands is, 

 roughly speaking, p"" shaped in plan, the longer 

 arm facing north to the River Irk with a frontage of 

 about 250 ft.** The shorter west wing consists of a 

 rectangular block of buildings erected round a small 

 cloistered quadrangle with a frontage to the Irwell on 

 the west side of about 105 ft. The living-rooms 

 were arranged on the north, west, and south sides of 

 the quadrangle, with dormitories over, and the great 

 hall and warden's rooms occupied the east side. The 

 long northern range of buildings contained the kitchen 

 and offices, together with the guest-house, and has a 

 short wing at the end running south-east, with a gate- 

 house to Long Millgate. The change in the sur- 

 roundings of the hospital in recent years has been so 

 great that it is now difficult to realize its original 

 aspect, though the structure itself, apart from restora- 

 tion, has undergone less change than might have been 

 expected. Formerly standing high above the river 

 bank, it presented a very picturesque appearance when 

 approached from the north-west, but the growth of 



Manchester has surrounded it with tall buildings, 

 altered the configuration of the ground around it by 

 the making of new streets, and robbed it of all its 

 external picturesqueness by the covering over of one 

 river and the hiding of the other. The original 

 character of the site is now no longer discernible, 

 though some idea of the ancient appearance of the 

 north side of the building may yet be gained from 

 the narrow street on that side called Walkers Croft, 

 which preserves in some measure the line of the 

 path on the north side of the Irk. The buildings, 

 which are of two stories, with walls of dressed red 

 sandstone about 3 ft. thick, and roofs covered with 

 stone slates, when seen from the playground on the 

 south side have a low and rather undistinguished 

 appearance, the line of the roofs being unbroken, and 

 the walling having assumed the black hue so charac- 

 teristic of Manchester. On this side the height of 

 the walls to the eaves is only about 20 ft., but on the 

 north the wall is 35 ft. high, the cellar being well 

 lighted by windows towards the river. Apart from 

 its greater height, however, the north front is archi- 

 tecturally more interesting from the fact of its being 

 well broken up by projecting chimneys ''' and garde- 

 robes, and by a raised platform at the north-west 

 corner with a flight of stairs descending to the river. 



The plan of the building would possibly be deter- 

 mined in some measure by that of the formerly- 

 existing baron's hall, the line of which would most 

 likely be fixed by the course of the two rivers. The 

 northern range of buildings follows exactly the course 

 of the Irk, lying rather north-west and south-east and 

 not parallel with the church, which is set accurately 

 east and west. The position of the main building 

 round the quadrangle being once decided . on, the 

 length of the north wing would seem to have been 

 determined by the gatehouse, which position was fixed 

 by the street to which it opened — Long Millgate, 

 then the principal thoroughfare from Manchester to 

 the north. In the many changes which have taken 

 place in recent years this street has lost its former 

 importance, and the gatehouse, now overshadowed on 

 both sides by the modern grammar-school buildings, 

 is almost forgotten, the approach to the hospital being 

 always from the south across the playground. Origi- 

 nally approached from the east, the chief entrance to 

 the building proper was by the porch in the angle at 

 the junction of the north and west wings ; the door 

 by which visitors now enter the library, if then in 

 existence, being of minor importance. 



The architectural evidence is not of itself sufficient 

 to determine precisely the dates of the erection of the 

 different parts of the building, but it is safe to say 

 there is nothing earlier than 1422. How much was 

 completed before the death of Thomas de la Warre in 

 1426, however (at which time he is recorded to have 

 spent ;^3,ooo on the buildings), it is impossible to 

 say. It is likely that building operations were in 

 progress for many years after this date, probably 

 throughout the second quarter of the 15 th century, 

 and that one part was finished before another was 

 begun, thus accounting for what are undoubtedly 

 additions to the original building, but additions 

 which appear to have been carried out within a 

 comparatively short time of the foundation. Un- 



» For the builder of Hendham Hall 

 (William Dinwiddie, 1789), see Lanes, 

 and Ches, Antiq, Notes, i, 24., 



'* Another description with plan may 

 be seen in Pal, Note Bk. iii, 160. 



224 



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"• Tile great kitchen chimney wa» 

 entirely rebuilt in 1902. 



